Tragic Death for Popular Soap Star

55 years old, soap opera star Benjamin Hendrickson died over the weekend in Huntington, N.Y. Reportedly, he committed suicide with a gunshot wound to the head.

The popular star played Police Chief Hal Munson on As the World Turns Apparently, Hendrickson had been suffering from depression since 2003, the year he lost his mother from cancer. Oddly enough, this was the same year he won a Daytime Emmy for his role on the popular soap.

“He was a marvelous and gifted man,” Ellen Dolan, his costar, said. “I am just heartbroken.”